Roman
villa that had a particularly intensive occupation during the Low-Imperial era and, probably, during the Late Antiquity. One of the most imposing buildings of the
villa of Casais Velhos is a
baths complex equipped with
tepidarium,
caldarium and
frigidarium. The areas that were heated through a circulatory system of hot air under the pavement were identified and, after consolidation and restauration, the springers of the brick arches (
suspensurae) were revealed.South of the
baths, an
inhumation necropolis was excavated, which corresponds to a late period in the site's occupation (5
th or 6
th century). There are also two tanks, which might have been related to dyeing, an activity that would also be responsible for the existence of
Purpura haemastoma shells, a species of sea snail used to produce Tyrian purple. Some authors, however, suggest the shells (which may have been brought from another location) are not related with the tanks, and that these might be two
cetariae for salting fish.